The present invention relates to analyzing aerial photos.
Aerial photos are photos taken from an aircraft or a satellite during a typically predominated flying route thus, providing a perspective view of a usually large area. Consequently, aerial photos provide considerable amount of information regarding the surface captured by the photograph. Aerial photos capture structural layout of the surface and objects located on the surface within the photo's frame. The photos are used for mapping areas for civil engineering matters such as planning roads, bridges and habitation locations. Other purposes can be for tracking changes over a period of time by comparing previously photographed aerial photos to current updated photograph of the same surface location. Correspondingly, aerial photos can track position of objects located on a surface and their advancement over a period of time. Hence, aerial photos are used for military surveillance of hostile objects such as vehicles, tanks, artillery guns, anti-aircraft guns and the like. The accuracy and magnitude of objects that can be detected within an aerial photo is subject to the height of the aircraft and the resolution provided by the camera. The resolution and clarity of a photo is also subject to the camera used and the clarity of the intermediate medium (e.g. air) affected by the time of day, weather, etc. as well as other environment factors.
Aerial photos are usually large and capture a large surface area and consequently a considerable amount of data. The considerable amount of data raises the problem of comprehending and processing all the said data within a reasonable period of time. Furthermore, the objects captured occasionally have low resolution and require expertise recognition for determining the character of the said object. One manner of interpreting an aerial photo is the manual way. The manual way requires expertise manpower that reviews in detail for pertinent objects within the photo's frame and reports its findings to an interested factor such as a mapping center agency, military intelligence agency, etc. The manual way is time consuming and is generally insufficient and impractical when aerial photos are large and the period of time is limited. Another way for interpreting an aerial photo is by combing the manual way with a Pattern Recognition Method (PRM). According to this way of interpreting the first stage is executing the PRM and the second stage is by executing the said manual way. The PRM is operated within computerized surrounding that has the ability to recognize the presence of an object on a photo that can be easily distinguished from its surroundings, such as a ship in the ocean or a regiment of tanks concentrated at one base in a desert and the like. The PRM operating within a computerized environment provides fragments of the aerial photo to be examined according to the manual way. The fraction received from the operation of the RPM reduces the size of the aerial photo to be examined within the next stage. Once the PRM is executed the second stage of the manual way is executed upon the received fractions. However, the combination of the PRM and manual way does not provide accurate results subject to the limitation of the PRM. The limitation of the PRM is due to the method of recognition of important objects within an aerial photo, which often ignores important objects that are not recognized, by this method.
There is therefore a need in the art for a method and system for recognizing and analyzing important objects within aerial photos providing rapid and accurate information.